Letter to Mother
by VisualIDentificationZeta
Summary: HarmJen SUMMARY: Patricia Burnett receives a letter from her son.


TITLE: Letter to Mother

AUTHOR: Vid Z.

PAIRING: Harm/Jen

TIMELINE: after "There goes the neighborhood" but before "The 4 Percent Solution" during which Mac had owned up to pushing Harm away and apologized to him. So, this fic is taking place during the pushing-away time.

FEEDBACK: yes, I do like feedback...

DISCLAIMER: sigh All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show JAG are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Suz for beta reading and her great suggestions.

SUMMARY: Patricia Burnett receives a letter from her son.

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NOVEMBER 2004

BURNETT'S VILLA

LA JOLLA, CA

Trish Burnett walked out of her prestigious home and greeted the postman. After he gave her her mail they chatted for a few minutes, catching up on each other's lives and families. Tom's been delivering her and Frank's mail for the past 20 years.

Finally Tom said his goodbyes and Trish made her way inside her house.

Standing at the kitchen counter she immediately went for the largest envelope, discarding the others to sort them out later.

On the envelope she recognized her son's writing and immediately opened it. Inside she found another, smaller envelope and a stationary, filled with her son's writing.

Curious she picked up the stationary and started reading.

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Dear Mom!

Enclosed with this letter you will find an invitation to a wedding. The wedding of your only son. I'm getting married. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, finally.

And no, it's not Mac. Several things have happened in the last year and a half which had effectively killed any chance of Mac and I ever being a couple. Calm down Mom, I'll explain it all further in this letter. The woman I am marrying is someone you have never met.

Your next thought is probably why I have never told you before now that I am seeing someone. It's not because I didn't want you to know or wasn't sure it would work out. The reason is both simple and complicated: because I have never dated the woman I am marrying. But I do love her with everything that I am and she loves me too.

I know this is a shock to you (and it's been to many) for me to be marrying someone without even dating her first, but this is me. My life has never been the most normal so why should it start now? After all, I am an officer and I am marrying an enlisted.

No Mom, I did not get her pregnant!

I think it would be best for me to explain how this all came to be.

As you know, last year I became a guardian to Mattie. I still regret never having found the time to visit you and Frank for you all to meet. As you also know, Mattie has since returned to her father.

Anyway, back on track. Because of my apartment's size and open plan, I had to come up with some other arrangement for her. In came Jen, the woman I am marrying. Her full name is Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Coates. She was the Admiral's yeoman and at that time had been having problems with her room-mates. Since the apartment next door was empty and Mattie couldn't live there on her own, I told Jen about it, about Mattie being her room-mate if she accepted, and that I would be paying Mattie's half of the rent. What happened next changed my life. Jen accepted and moved in with Mattie.

I'd known Jen for 2 years by then, but only after she moved in with Mattie did we start getting closer. We became best friends, something that I've been missing since my friendship with Mac went to ground. In May 2003, Mac told me clearly that there would 'never' be an 'us', which basically also cut off our friendship at the knees. I'd tried to build our friendship up again, but she resisted my every attempt, using her new relationship with Webb as a cover. Yes, Webb the spook who had almost gotten us killed so many times. They had gotten together during his latest screw-up in which he had almost gotten her tortured and killed again.

So, I had to move on and move on I did. It was hard to forget 7 years of friendship, but I had no other choice but to try. I was not willing to let the rest of my life pass me by because I was pining for Mac. And I succeeded mainly because of Jen's friendship and unwavering support.

Slowly Jen, Mattie and I became a family. A classic, although unorthodox, family: father, mother and child. Even though the father and the mother were not involved and the child's biological parents were other people. Even though the father is 13 years older than the mother and were seperated by their ranks and regulations. Even though we never referred to each other as a family.

No matter how strange and complicated it may have seemed, it worked for us.

I know, unfortunately a marriage isn't just one big honeymoon, right?

We've had some problems. To avoid problems Jen and I had to pretend as if we weren't the best friends we were and this constant alertness took it's toll on us.

Then Mattie decided to go back to her father. I will never resent her for that, since it's what I've been working on for months - for Mattie to forgive her father and move on. But it basically tore our family apart.

Jen and I started putting distance between us. This distance just showed us how important we are to each other.

The breaking point came when an old friend of Jen's came into town and framed Jen for murder. Thankfully, Jen still trusted me and let me help her. During the investigation, a police Detective basically accused me of having an affair with Jen. The smug bastard seemed to really enjoy the possibility of locking the both of us up and throwing away the key. He and his partner seemed convinced that Jen and I were having some illegal affair and killed her friend's boyfriend to get away with the money he stole. The last time I saw an investigation this sloppy it almost cost me my freedom and my life. I wouldn't have lasted one week in Leavenworth if I had been convicted. I was not about to let that happen to Jen and me. Thankfully we got the proof and were dismissed as suspects. Jen's friend is still on the loose.

But the Detective's words haunted me. If a cop could so easily come to the conclusion and belief that Jen and I were involved, what about other people? People who could cause us some real trouble.

Jen and I decided we had to talk about this. We had both worked too hard to just lose our careers and we both liked working at HQ too much to consider other commands. On the other hand, our friendship meant too much to both of us to sacrifice it on the altar of the Navy and careers. And in the middle of discussing what we were to do, feelings were confessed. I don't know who was first, but it doesn't matter. It gave me something to work with.

I had a case a couple of years ago, dealing with fraternization between an officer and an enlisted. For it, I had gone through the fraternization regulations with a fine-tooth comb. Unfortunately, I couldn't completely get them off, but I did manage to find a loop-hole, which they didn't even consider.

I told Jen to give me a couple of days to check things out then spent the whole next day in the Law Library confirming my theory and getting the proof I needed to prevent the new JAG from throwing the book at us.

That evening I met with Jen to tell her what I had found. The frat regs prevent an officer and an enlisted to date and/or to have a sexual relationship - they do not prevent marriage. That means the couple would have to marry without even being involved with each other first. The possibility of it happening is so small that the Navy doesn't feel the need to cover that loop-hole. But it gives us a chance to be together. That way we can have everything: we can be together, work together and no-one can cause us problems.

We were both pretty hesitant to consider it. Even though we had admitted to being in love and having the best possible basis for marriage - our stable friendship - it's a pretty big step for anyone and we were afraid. Afraid of it not working, afraid of hurting each other and afraid of getting hurt. But we decided that we will go for it and we are determined to make our marriage work. So, I gave her the family ring. The one that has been in our family for over 150 years. Since we decided to adhere to the regs, there was no kissing or anything else. But the look of complete joy and love in her eyes completely made up for it.

The next day we went to work separately, Jen was still wearing her ring and we made an appointment with the General. To say he was upset would be an understatement. We did manage to calm him down before he could call in the guards to have us arrested and then he let us explain everything. We were very adamant about never having had any kind of a romantic relationship. Then I presented him with the copy of the frat regs and transcripts of fraternization trial in which the couple was found not guilty. He calmed down, but he made it clear that an investigation would have to be made. A few days later the investigation started, lead by someone I once knew, Captain Krennick. After interviewing everyone possible, from our co-workers, Mattie, neighbours,... the conclusion of the investigation was that we had never broken the regs and were free to get married. There were a few conditions: each of us have a Marine guard constantly watching our every move, making sure we aren't doing anything we shouldn't until the wedding. Jen has a female Sergeant on her back and I have a male one. During the night, another Marine stands guard between the doors of our apartments, making sure that we are sleeping alone. I know it sounds a bit extreme, but we are just glad that the General is on our side.

You can understand why we are hurrying with the wedding. The investigation was completed this Friday and the wedding will be next Satuday. Judge Helfman, a friend of ours, will be performing the ceremony in the backyard of our friends, the Roberts.

I am writing this letter just before going to sleep and will be sending it out tomorrow with the overnight delivery. I hope I gave you enough forewarning.

I know you have doubts, Mom, but when you finally meet Jen, please just keep in mind that we truly do love each other and that I am happier than I ever was before.

Until then, take care and I'll be seeing you next Saturday.

Your son,

Harm

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Trish stared in shock at the letter. This was definitely not what she was expecting when she opened the letter!

But then tears of joy started coursing down her cheeks. Her baby boy was getting married!

She shook of her paralysis and turned towards the living room.

"FRAAAAAAANK!"

THE END


End file.
